If we face ourselves properly, fully, then we find that something exists in us that is basically awake, as opposed to asleep. We find something intrinsically cheerful and fundamentally pride-worthy. That is to say, we don’t have to con ourselves. We discover genuine one-hundred-percent gold, not even twenty-four carat. We are fundamentally awake. You might think this is just an old myth, another trick to cheer us up. But no! It is real and good.

Chögyam Trungpa

from the book Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery

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Further quotes from the book Smile at Fear:

• We Have to Be Honest With Ourselves
• Facing yourself
• An autumn leaf
• Using our intellect to understand life
• Goodness is always there
• Bravery
• Joyful to be here
• Gentleness toward ourselves
• Facing ourselves
• Cultivating mindfulness
• Becoming the breathing
• Ego finds a name for itself
• Indigestion in the mind
• The strength of fearlessness
• Be there all along
• The warrior is also an artist
• The warrior approach
• Just looking at fear
• Joining fear and uncertainty with genuine confidence